Equipment needed for bird photography
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The nice thing about bird photography is that it can happen
anywhere on our beautiful globe. The not so nice thing is that
birds are small or shy, and you need to be able to get close
enough with your equipment. In this article, we will be looking
at the ideal equipment for bird photography. We will also be
having a quick look at how to use this equipment.
Camera body
We live in the world of digital photography, and therefore we
will only be discussing digital camera bodies. I am also a
really big Canon fan, so I will talk Canon, and you can
translate it to other manufacturers if you need to.
You will need a decent camera body that allows you to set
continuous focus while shooting images in the raw image quality.
The cheapest body allowing you to do this is the Canon EOS 20D.
However, it is not really cheap. The reason for it being not too
affordable is that it is actually a very good all-round camera
body for the serious amateur or professional. You cannot go
wrong with this body...
Lenses
A lot of amateurs think that a really decent long zoom lens will
solve all their problems. I have been there guys, and it does
not. Do what the professionals do and get that long prime lens.
I used the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM for a long time,
and my results were decent but not good enough. It is not the
sharpest lens. If you need to use a zoom rather stick with the
Canon EF 70-200mm
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f/2.8L IS USM. It is pin sharp.
I now use the Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM and it is the best
thing that could have happened to my photography. It is very
sharp and very fast at the same time. A bit heavy at times, but
I need the exercise! With this lens I mostly use a Canon
Extender 1.4x II for an effective focal length of 1 120 mm with
autofocus! That is plenty for any bird, and I cannot imagine
getting a lot of good bird photographs with anything shorter.
By the way, do not use manual focus. Today's cameras were not
built for manual focus as the viewfinders are small and do not
allow you to see enough detail to manual focus effectively.
Photographing flying birds
Okay, now you have all the equipment and you are heading into
the field to get that award winning photograph of a flying bird.
You have to have enough light entering your lens for a fast
enough shutter speed to freeze the action. You also want your
camera to focus where the bird is in that split second you are
going to give it before firing away. So what do you do...?
Set you camera to an ISO speed of 400. In sunshine this ought to
be fast enough. The reason for not using ISO 100 or 200 is that
you are photographing action and you do not want anything to
blur.
You must also make sure your lens is open at its maximum
aperture. A Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens coupled with a Canon
Extender 1.4x II gives a maximum aperture of 5.6,
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and this is
what I use when photographing flying birds.
Also ensure your camera is set to continuous autofocus. Canon
calls this setting AI Servo focus. This is crucial and the main
reason why I am not a fan of camera bodies like the Canon EOS
350D. They do not allow you to use this focus with raw images...
Thanks Canon!
I also set my image stabilizer to Mode 2 for photographing
moving subjects, to avoid it actually working against that sharp
photo rather than for it...
Now all that is left is moving that heavy lens around while the
birds are flying past. Happy shooting!
Conclusion
We professionals have a way of sometime making it sound like you
do not need good equipment to be a good photographer. That is
utter non-sense. Get yourself decent equipment and you will see
why the pros get the shot and you don't.
The other thing that makes the professionals so much better than
the average amateur is patience. Go and sit somewhere where
there are birds, forcing yourself not to move for three hours,
and you will get the magic shots. Your patience will be
rewarded.
About the author:
Dries Cronje is a freelance nature photographer operating in
Southern Africa. He has a passion for teaching and has dedicated
one of his sites, http://www.africa-nature-photography.com,
purely to helping his fellow nature photographers.
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